At the wonderful Vintage Flair event the other week, I met a few stallholders, who excitedly told me that they were about to set up shop in Cardiff, at the top end of St Mary's street by the castle. The shop was to be an eclectic mix of craftsmen, upcyclers, artists and vintage clothing sellers. Intrigued, I popped in to the opening evening of Annie & Co. to have a thorough browse.
On the ground floor, there's a lot of taxidermy on display in between handknitted Welsh wool textiles, 'found' objects, bric-a-brac, glassware, jewellery and reupholstered furniture. Downstairs, there are a couple of vintage clothing stalls, as well as cards, artwork and some fun upcycled furniture (including a kitchen sink turned into a coffee table with built-in wine cooler!).
As for pricing, there really is a range to suit all budgets. The vintage clothes are very reasonably priced and include some mid-century items as well as '70s and '80s. The 'shabby chic' trendy stuff upstairs attracts a higher price tage, as it's inevitably the kind of bric-a-brac that you need to spend a lot of time at the car boot sale to find, and people ten to not have the time if they've got the money!
It's tough for vintage based businesses in prime (expensive) retail space - I've seen many an excellent vintage clothes shop close down in the arcades of Cardiff over the years. By appealing to mainstream 'vintage' of the shabby-chic, upcycled, craft type, alongside 'real' vintage clothing and bric-a-brac, perhaps Annie's has a fighting chance. I wish them the best of luck!
What a great selection! Bags and gloves stole my heart, dear friend ... I want to be a millionaire to have all of them in my wardrobe.
ReplyDeleteThe shop looks great, hope they can make a go of it. Yes, vintage shops in prime sites often have high prices to match, and then can't sustain the business, which is why so many traders go for fairs and markets, I guess - bricks and mortar shops are just so expensive to run.
ReplyDeleteThat little Welsh lady's corgi is a sweetheart! xxx
Oh my, those bags and hats are soooo pretty :) And the shop also looks nice, I hope it'll stay open and won't have to close down like so many other nice shops.
ReplyDeleteI visited local retro flee market yesterday and there's lots of nice stuff there too, but sadly it's really expensive since it's quite rare in Finland to have any kind of vintage stuff. There was this nice authentic Lagerfeld bag, but sadly I didn't have the need for such a heavy bag although it was at affordable price.
Then there was this other vintage shop in another town and there I did not have good experience. It was cramped, clothes were piled there like trash and way overpriced ie. for a wrinkled so-so quality skirt. Seller was also so pushy we decided never to visit there again with my cousin. I wish I could visit more places, would love to get a real vintage 50's-60's leather bag with a cute kiss lock :)
That hat, purse, and glove display!!!! <3
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